A Surprise Question
by Machinist's Guardian Archangel
Summary: After destroying the Cerberus base, the Normandy will need almost fifteen hours to get to Earth. Shepard and Tali head up to the loft to sleep, but get almost none. Instead, Aaron Shepard asks a question poor Tali never saw coming. Spiritual successor to "Tali's Hangover," but can be read alone. Slightly more poetic than intended, but went with it. Review and comment, please.


I press my forehead against hers, the warmth and gentle smile of her face so much more inviting than the pillow. My right hand slides along her temple and though her hair. Beneath the sheets, her leg is draped over mine, hooking behind and pulling it between hers. The only skin still hidden behind the old barrier of her suit covers from her breasts to the middle of her thighs, almost like a one-piece bathing suit. She has her left hand resting just behind my jaw, with her thumb rubbing my shaved side burn line.

A beautiful scent graces my nose, an amazing combination of hers formed from eezo, wine, and this pleasant, indescribable smell she always has. It fills my heart with a little euphoria that's nonexistent without her. She's wide awake and staring into my soul with those white irises and hazy red scleras. Neither of us really expected to fall asleep anyway. I run my hand across her face once more, feeling the gentle touch of her skin, so much softer and more pristine than my own. The girl I fell in love with... the girl who loves me back... The girl who's perfect... The war's not taking this away from me. We've still got four hours until we hit Earth, and I'm going to love every second with her until then.

I twist off her forehead and meet her lips, a small token of how much I love her. The slightly sweet wine she had earlier greets my mouth, but it's nowhere near as good as the taste of her. She moans softly in appreciation as we close our eyes. Her hug around my chest tightens, breathtaking compassion in her grip. Deciding I'll play with her a bit, I tap the very edge of her tongue with mine and pull back. She's smiling back at me, her eyes watching me when return to her brow.

"I love you, Tali," I whisper, a slight grin coming across my face. Before I can look back into those beautiful irises, she closes them and kisses me. I feel her pleasant drowsiness in the pressure, but also the love we share. It causes a disorienting euphoria in my heart and brain, one that makes me wide awake and almost asleep at the same time. She returns the favor of the tongue tap, retreating with a mischievous smile before I can follow. Her shoulder lays into me and pins me on my back so that her head can use mine for a pillow.

"I love you too, Aaron," she whispers back with a coy little smile in the corners of her mouth.

Her raven hair drips across my face. I brush it back behind her ear and kiss her neck. Even though it's the lightest kiss of the night, she moans again and nuzzles the side of my head. The feeling of her skin on my lips makes it almost impossible to end the contact, but I find the power and lay back into the bed.

"Are you just toying with me now?" she asks playfully. There's a slight giggle in her voice, one I've loved from the moment I heard it. It makes my smile a little bit bigger. She's always had that strange ability to make me laugh. Just a hint of that giggle sends me into a grin, which makes her laugh even more. It's not something I'd ever complain about, but it's entertaining to think about.

"Maybe..." I prod. I slide one arm to just behind her shoulder, the other behind her hips. With the new grip, I pull her tight against me. Her warmth radiates through my chest and makes me smile. This is the girl. This is the girl I love. This is the girl who loves me back. It doesn't get any better than this.

She lays into me, pushing me deeper into the bed. Her legs slide onto either side of mine and pin my hips. She tilts her head to the side and nuzzles even harder. I feel her lips run across my neck as her hair goes across my face again. And just when I really start to enjoy it, she stops and hovers over me. Well, I suppose I had it coming.

"Why do I get the feeling that you're suggesting something, Miss vas Rannoch?" I ask with an attempt at a playful smile.

She lowers her face closer to mine, to the point our noses graze. "What could I possibly be suggesting?" she giggles, giving me another small kiss on the lips.

As tempting as it is to follow her lead, I control myself. There's something I need to take care of first. I roll to my left, leaving us still close together but on our sides. "Not quite yet."

"Why?" she asks softly. "I thought this was what you wanted, that you wanted to spend every night like this."

"I do, believe me. I love your hair rubbing across my face and especially getting to kiss you as often as I want. I just want to wait."

"So... not tonight?" There's a pang of hurt in her eyes. She always worries about that: if I still want and need her. Can she not understand that I will always choose her, no matter what?

I shake my head a bit. "No, no. Well, only if you want to, but... Can I ask you a question first?"

"Sure..." she says slowly, a little confused.

"Do you have your plans for your house on Rannoch yet?"

Her eyebrow drifts up, and her face grows a curious expression. "What?

I shrug somewhat innocently. "You know: house plans, or even a basic idea. Number of rooms, how big, what it will look like? Anything besides the location."

"No..." She stays silent for a moment, not so much awkward as questioning. "Why do you ask?"

"Because I want to help with it, Tali," I say. "I want to help plan it, help build it."

I lean my head closer to her ear, my lips almost touching it. "I want to live in it," I whisper.

I return to my original position against her forehead. Even in the darkness of the loft, it's easy to see the shock in her terrified eyes. She's just staring at me with disbelief and a slightly open mouth. "Are you saying..." she mutters, just barely audible over the beating of our hearts.

I nod. "Yeah... I want to be with you forever, Tali. I want to be yours and yours alone. I want to lay my head down in your bed every night and have you be my first sight every morning for the rest of my life. I want to marry you."

For an unknown eternity, silence chokes the room. Every muscle in her face locks itself in stone, never changing from her stunned expression. Her heart simply freezes in her chest, almost like she just discovered that she's a queen or something... "Or something" is one hell of an understatement.

"You're serious..." she mouths even quieter than before. "You want me to be your..."

"Yeah, baby girl... I do."

I start to cry just as she does. Not sobbing out-loud or wailing, but tears erupt from both our eyes. The small streams mix on our pressed-together cheeks when she turns her hug into a death grip. I accept her with open arms, wrapping her up just as tightly. She starts to shake in silent heaves while burying her head in my neck. My own body shakes with rattling, shallow attempts at breathing. It takes every ounce of power in me not to lose myself completely.

"I don't have a ring for you," I explain in a sob. I feel my lips start to rush on their own accord, muttering and stumbling like she always does when she's nervous. "I wish I did. I wish like nothing else that I did. I wish I could end this damn war so I could do this right. You deserve that. You deserve so much more than-"

"I will."

Her muttered voice stops my ramblings. She whispered it just loud enough for me alone to hear, as if her answer was a secret she wanted to hide from the rest of the galaxy. A quiet little promise for my ears only. There was strength in it. Passion. Love. It came in a whisper, but with more power than any speech or call-to-arms could ever give. Those words mean more to me than any other. Except maybe, "I love you."

I look down at her face, now with a mile-wide smile directed straight at me. "What?" I ask in a whisper as soft as hers, just to be sure.

"I. Will. Marry. You," she explains slowly.

I watch her through tear-clouded eyes, trying to memorize every detail of this moment. Her usually white and red eyes have grown a striking contrast. The red scleras have gone from a crimson haze to flame deep, making the white irises seem like ghosts in comparison. Her pale cheeks have a slight shine where the tears run down in steady streams. That amazing raven-black hair of hers is laying every-which-way across her pillow and neck. She's smiling with more joy than I ever thought possible, with her soft-pink lips highlighting pearl-white teeth. Every inch of her has a slightly blue hue to it, the fish tank's glow being the cause. All in all, it's absolutely perfect. The scene before me etches into my brain, saved forever. This one snapshot in time, this one perfect moment...

I press my face against her cheek and finally give up on holding back. A torrent of laughs and sobs erupt from my throat, loud enough that Gabby and Ken can probably hear. But I don't care anymore. I don't care who knows and who wonders. I don't care if everyone rushes up here to see what it was about. I don't care if they assume it's a weird sex scream and think I'm a freak. I just got the girl of my dreams to agree to marry me. Let the rest of the world go to Hell. She's mine now. And there's not a damn thing that will change that.

She joins my breakdown with her own crazy laugh/cry. I can hear the joy in her voice, feel the happiness in each ragged breath for air. The thudding of her heart is loud enough for me to pick out each beat. Her whole body shakes with every sob. I tighten my hug and kiss her her cheek. She presses my head back, forcing her lips to mine. The ensuing flurry of kisses is overwhelmingly strong, just as much love and devotion as passion.

She pins me on my back, pressing me into the mattress with her lips like she did on our first night. My hands gain a life of their own and rub across her back. The taste of her mouth is overpowering and makes me wish I didn't have to stop and breathe every couple of seconds. I sneak a peak at her face while gasping for air. Her eyes are closed, but a slight orange glow toys with my peripheral vision.

_Still_ plays over the speakers of the room at a volume hardly louder than a whisper. I give up a smile. She fell in love with this song last year, after the Collector base. She had asked for a few human songs, and that somehow made it into the playlist I sent her. What were the lyrics? "I remember you and me tangled in hotel sheets for hours." Guess that explains the song choice.

She pulls her head back, nose still touching mine. Her red and white eyes stare into mine. "I'm not suggesting," she laughs, her voice full of tears and joy.

"I got a better one," I say. I switch Nathanson for _Easy to Love You_ using my own was Mom and Dad's wedding song once upon a time. They were always fans of that old music, and it rubbed off on me.

She raises an eyebrow at me, more than a little confused. I fast forward through the first three-quarters of the song. "So baby, will you marry me?" the old singer asks.

The joyful, slightly coy little grin reappears on her face. She giggles through drying tears, coming back down to my lips for another kiss.

* * *

Songs in the order they appeared:

"Still" by Matt Nathanson from Some Mad Hope album

"Easy to Love You" by Theory of a Deadman from The Truth Is... album


End file.
